Quote Originally Posted by lemonpeace View Post
the problem with Batwing boils down to this, David Zavimbe was a great idea and having an agent of Batman working in African was a intriguing concept; the issue is no one in DC knew how to write an African book. they got a few awesome ideas out there with the Kingdom and Massacre, but you see in the way that they were using the characters from the Kingdom that they were stretching themselves creatively. They didn't know how to write Africa or authentic-feeling African culture or characters, and instead of doing better they opted to pivot to a more culturally familiar take that was lacking in a distinct voice and personality compared to the series before it, despite the former failing its premise. I read both after the series ended and (at the time) enjoyed them but I can not for the life of me remember anything distinct happening to Luke because, in hindsight, while he was a "funner" character he was basically War Machine but somehow with less individuality. I will give Luke this, his family gave him sooome nice character moments but they weren't anything that any character (David included) wouldn't be able to pull off in a similar-sized cast dynamic. i like Luke enough, his suit is one of my favorite Bat-suits, but imo the book had a niche audience that could have grown with better storytelling and some research but DC doomed it with a lazy gimmick by pivoting. ultimately the only thing they did was fuck up two characters and relegate them to the limbo once they had another black face to fill their gap. I just hope Duke fares better over time, but they are fucking with him too. it could be going down like Batwing for Duke, and then where will we be at? we had David Zavimbe as Batwing the African Batman, we had Luke Fox as Batwing the "War Machine" Batman, and Duke Thomas as the Signal the teen daytime Batman. next we'll get Davis Williams-Wayne, Bruce's secret black distant cousin who he adopts and makes into Batmobile, the black teen Batman that rocket skates at dusk...for justice!
This is why CBR needs a "Like" button for posts.